


Eye of the Beholder

by SilentWaves



Category: One Piece
Genre: Crew as Family, Established Relationship, It's my one-year on ao3 as a writer!! I'm posting this to celebrate hahah, M/M, rated t for swearing :)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26321017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentWaves/pseuds/SilentWaves
Summary: There's a specific kind of irrationally that convinces one to fall in love with an imperfect match. It's a good thing then that beauty, and everything it entails, is strictly subjective.
Relationships: Roronoa Zoro & Vinsmoke Sanji, Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji
Comments: 12
Kudos: 112





	Eye of the Beholder

**Author's Note:**

> ok so y'all know I love one piece with my whole heart and also zosan... I just don't have a lot of time/ideas for them. Maybe I'll do a small zosan thing every year to a) track my progress (?) and b) celebrate my ao3 anniversaries as a writer?? Maybhaps.

**Right**

Despite common belief, Zoro actually has a lot of trouble sleeping at night.

He’s always found it difficult to sleep whenever it’s quiet. Quiet hours means there are less people watching his back, and less people watching his back means a higher chance he’ll be stabbed in it. Maybe he’s just paranoid (though he prefers to label it as caution, _Robin_ ), but along with his skills with the sword, he also learned from the dojo to be on guard at all times. 

Since Brook can’t really sleep, he took it upon himself to become the night lookout for the foreseeable future. This wouldn’t normally be a problem, but Brook being on night watch means that Zoro can’t use this time to train or take a walk, or even just have a goddamn snack without hearing a familiar clacking voice telling him to “go back to your hammock!” and “your sleep schedule is already bad enough without you messing it up _further_!” 

And the old geezer is _absolutely fucking aware_ that if Zoro were to ever say anything against it, Sanji would probably wake up and attempt to start yet another bout about getting Zoro to sleep at normal times like a healthy person with a healthy circadian rhythm. And then Chopper would probably wake up from the racket, and nobody wants that kid to get involved in anything, especially if it started another 3-hour lecture on how naps don’t really substitute for a good night's rest. And with Chopper and Sanji and Zoro all trying to talk over each other, the rest of the crew may as well have a goddamn party with all the noise they’re making.

So now, he’s just staring up at the peeling paint on the ceiling (he chipped it a while ago because looking at smooth paint was just a hair of an inch more boring than the alternative), with absolutely nothing to do. He’ll make up for it with as many naps as he needs throughout the next day, and yes, he supposes that he’s more likely to fall asleep whenever Sanji’s accompanying him (not that he’d ever admit it out loud). So it’s not exactly a problem, _Chopper_ , for him whenever he’s awake long into the night. 

With the lapping waves and faint haunting refrains from the crow’s nest as his only companions, he thinks.

Two nights earlier, it was about that weird sea-cow that Luffy found and beat up. Nami wanted a cake, but the dairy they picked up at the last island had all gone bad, so Luffy had to eat it all. They tried to see if milking sea cows would work, but it turns out that Jimbei is lactose intolerant, which wasn’t a fun thing to discover when Chopper was already stressed to the limit about their wounds from Wano. At least the meat was good. 

Tonight, Zoro is pondering something a little less humorous, but almost as serious just the same — the person sleeping next to him. Sanji is sleeping soundly tonight, the lucky bastard, and Zoro tries his best to relax so that he dosn’t disturb his partner.

With the soft moonlight ghosting over his skin and his snores echoing across the room to join in with those of the rest of their crew, Sanji looks nearly ethereal and shockingly real at the same time.

His eyebrows were an absolute gem of nature, and the only time he lets Zoro look at them closely is while he’s drowsy. They were wonderful in how strange they are. Not necessarily attractive, but enchanting all the same. After all the strangeness of the Grand Line, the curve of Sanji’s eyebrows have become somewhat of a anchor for Zoro, always in his periphery somehow (until they weren’t, but he doesn’t like thinking about that) or staring right at him like they are now. Zoro would be tempted to softly trace the lines with his thumb if he wasn’t concerned about waking up their owner.

His stubble too, something Zoro refuses to see on his own face, is surprisingly not as off-putting as he’d expect. Raised on and still living by a policy of at least _trying_ to maintain a clean appearance whenever possible, Zoro never understood the appeal of facial hair. Sure, Sanji’s the one who demands that Zoro showers more than once a week, “especially with all that fucking training, you shitty swordsman, you always reak of sweat”, but _Zoro_ is still the only one of the two who has to deal with stubble burn. Before the two-year separation, Zoro would wonder if he could subtly slice off that shadow on his chin in a fight without seeming too obvious. Afterwards, he learned that the citizens of Momoiro taught him some styling tricks (for both the visible and the not-so-visible hair), and Zoro has looked forward to them all ever since.

It really was inconvenient having one eye at times, because haki, while useful in fights and most day-to-day activities, can’t really be used to admire the face of one’s boyfriend. Nami mentioned something once about his depth perception and wondered about how it’d affect him in battle, but Zoro only notices a problem when he’s shifting his head around to get more angles of Sanji’s face. 

Zoro would normally feel… not quite right, with scrutinizing someone this closely while they’re sleeping for entirely non-survival purposes, but Sanji has openly admitted that if Zoro was to do anything while awake in the middle of the night, he may as well be admiring his boyfriend. 

“It’s a lot better than the ceiling, that’s for sure,” Sanji had said.

“Hm. Debatable.” was Zoro’s response.

And at their current proximity Zoro could smell the tobacco on Sanji’s breath all too well. He never could stand it, even at a young age. Back then, it was because Koushirou-sensei had drilled into them that even the smallest whiff could damage their lungs, and Zoro was not about to let something like that stop him from becoming the greatest swordsman. Now, he’s not an idiot anymore since all those barrels of rum probably harm him more than any second-hand smoke ever will, but the smell never stopped getting irritating.

But when it’s coming from Sanji, it doesn’t seem so bad anymore.

It’s a horrible habit, and Zoro started jokingly slicing off the lit ends whenever Sanji is in a good enough mood, but at this point, nobody is really expecting him to completely quit. They all have their ways to deal with life on the sea, with their past histories and their present concerns. Sanji’s vice was smoking, and Zoro’s was drinking. They let each other be.

So when Zoro realizes that he can taste the faint scent of tobacco on his own lips before a meal, feel the ashes rinse out from his hair as he showers and listen for familiar clicks of a lighter whenever Sanji’s been sleeping worse than usual… well, he doesn’t mind it as much as he originally thought.

He got too comfortable once during someone’s birthday celebration, and got just slightly tipsy around Luffy. He mentioned some similar thoughts (this current night may or may not be the first one when Zoro’s thought of Sanji to pass the time until he falls asleep), and Luffy had responded in between bites of sea monster meat.

“Sounds like a whole lotta trouble.” Luffy had said. Zoro had gotten good at interpreting Luffy’s speech when his mouth is stuffed. It’s a Strawhat Pirate talent.

“Not really.” Zoro responded, shrugging.

“Sanji’s cool. His eyebrow _is_ pretty funny though.” He paused to chew, just for half a second, barely. “I guess that’s pretty weird when you’re kissing though, maybe?” 

“Luffy, you find anything related to kissing weird.” Zoro said, smiling. “I don’t think you’re passing a very unbiased judgement here.”

“Woah, Zoro using some weird Nami-words there.”

“I am _not_.” Zoro chugged another cup. “And… uh, I guess kissing him isn’t all that bad.”

“Gross,” Luffy stuck out his tongue playfully. 

The conversation changed direction after that because Chopper entered their corner and regardless of how smart he is, he is still very much a child and Zoro isn’t going to discuss any kind of non-platonic, non-familial relationship in front of him. 

Thinking about it now, Zoro has never found attraction to someone based on their looks. The few actual relationships that he had were based either on a mutual physical need or broken up by their differing dreams. 

He made sure that picturesque scenes wouldn’t distract him (Sanji had been surprised to discover that when they submerged beneath the archipelago), and the same logic applies to the people that he meets. In fact, it’s just an objective trend that attractive people know how to use their appearance to get what they wanted. Zoro didn’t have any kind of academic education, but that’s just statistics. Probably. 

So in a way, Sanji’s looks made it just a bit easier for Zoro to trust him.

Sanji is obviously _attractive_ , Zoro has eyes after all (well, just one, but it still works just fine so it counts), but he is undeniably not very date-able. Blond hair looks good, but not when it’s styled in a way that unnecessarily covers an eye. Speaking of which, those droopy eyes could be attractive if he didn’t always use them to look down or leer at people. Not to mention that flirtatious tone of his, which would be more than _just effective_ if he didn’t use it as often as he breathed. 

It quickly became apparent that Sanji’s attractiveness was, while present in _theory_ , is very much lost on its execution. 

Instead, Zoro found other things to fall in love with. Sanji’s laugh, for one, might be the best thing to ever happen… objectively. That wide toothy grin, punctuated by the flickering cigarette pinched between his perfectly straight teeth. The light in his eyes whenever he talks about the All Blue, the way those same eyes can narrow with such intense focus during a fight… 

Zoro might be able to go on forever, thinking about his boyfriend. Maybe that’s what’s keeping him up.

“You’re moving around too much, bastard.” Sanji shifts, and mutters his complaint drowsily into the crook of Zoro’s neck. 

“Hammocks weren’t made for two in the first place, shitty cook.” Zoro whispers his response, since Usopp was also a light sleeper and he’s not about to deal with another one of Those Incidents. “Get out if you don’t like me being awake.”

“You _really_ want me to leave?”

“…no.”

“That’s what I thought, dumbass marimo.” He slings an arm over Zoro’s torso, since it had slipped off sometime during the night. “Now chill the fuck out and go to sleep or I’ll knock you unconscious to help.”

“Hm,” He smiles into Sanji’s hair and wonders briefly when the smell of his least favourite vice had become so comforting. “You couldn’t knock me out if you tried.”

Sanji smacks the back of Zoro’s head. Zoro silently laughs at the way Sanji immediately starts snoring afterwards.

Well, he’s never going to sleep if he’s thinking about someone so dear to his heart. Zoro closes his eyes, and just enjoys the warmth that companionship brings.

* * *

**Left**

It’s times like these when Sanji wonders why he decided to date a stubborn piece of moss.

“You can’t work out when you’re wounded this badly.” It’s not an argument. Especially not after Chopper passed out from dressing and cleaning everyone’s wounds for 30 hours straight after their last run-in with some strong Marines.

“It’s fine, the bandages will hold. And it’s a lighter set anyways.” Zoro responds.

“You—” Sanji kicks the weight out of Zoro’s hands. _Damn bastard never taking care of himself,_ he thinks to himself. The sentiment probably comes across in his facial expression, because Zoro immediately tenses into a battle ready position, two swords drawn and haki flowing. 

“Oi, you know better than anyone here that training is more important than some scratches—” Zoro begins.

Sanji cuts him off. “Those are not _scratches_ , and put your goddamn swords away, I’m not going to fight you while we’re both this injured.”

“Hmph.” Zoro sets his swords back down, but the energy in the room is still palpable. “I can’t rest now. After that humiliating performance back there, how can I just lay down and _sleep_?”

As the cook, his first instinct after their fight was to prepare enough food to replenish the crew’s internal energy sources (if only they all ran on Cola). Doctor’s orders though were to prioritize rest over nutrition for the time being. 

Exercising, and Sanji gives Zoro another dirty look, does not seem very much like _resting_. 

None of this makes it past his lips, but after knowing each other for this long, Zoro can get the message nonetheless. “Shitty marimo, your muscles aren’t going to disappear overnight, especially if you’re just letting yourself fucking recover from goddamn _battle wounds_.”

“Well yeah, but if I start giving myself days off, then I might start taking more in the future.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Sanji sighs, exasperated, at Zoro’s blank look in response. He continues. “Idiot. I don’t train my kicks everyday, but I’m still doing fine. Suggest that you’re better than me in battle because you train yourself ragged, and I’ll beat you to a pulp.”

“I wouldn’t.”

They’ve reached an impasse. Sanji doesn’t particularly _enjoy_ their fights — which are usually about one or the other not taking care of themselves enough, so it’s not anything new — but he couldn’t just stand by as he watches a person as important as Zoro pointlessly destroy his body. Zoro does the same for him, so neither has a right to complain. 

He snuffs out his cigarette to light another one. 

On the inhale, his concerns gather. The opening wounds, the bags underneath their eyes, the soreness of their muscles as the adrenaline wears off. As he exhales, he tries to de-escalate the conversation.

They’ve gotten better at it recently. Two fiery personalities didn’t seem like a conventionally easy match, but once they started dating their all-consuming blaze had become a steady hearth. They trust each other to avoid pouring any gasoline into it.

“I’m just worried about you, like the eight other people on this ship.” Sanji says. Zoro’s face had already softened. “I don’t want a repeat of Thriller Bark.”

“Hm.” Sanji knows that Zoro still believes the rest of the crew doesn’t know about his sacrifice, and trusts Sanji to keep it that way. They try not to bring it up too much, but the mental association always managed to come up whenever Sanji looked at Zoro in a post-battle state. 

“Anyways,” Sanji sits down next to Zoro, the weights abandoned and the three swords placed back safely at Zoro’s other side. “Do you want to take a nap?”

“I thought you always complained about me stinking. You’re not going to demand that I take a bath first?”

“Oh please, we all smell like blood and sweat right now. At this point it’s more likely me than you.” He shuffles closer. “Just c’mere already.”

And so he did. Zoro would have no trouble sleeping tonight, Sanji knows. Not when his muscles were already over-exerted and his eyes already drooping. He’s willing to watch over Zoro until he falls asleep because it means that Zoro will help Sanji re-dress the bandages on his arms in the morning. An unspoken agreement. And other than that, their relationship made it so much easier to take care of each other without trying to hide their intentions.

Before, Zoro would insist that Sanji make his dishes at a spice level that only the two of them could handle, and then complain that he was full three bites in. And maybe it was Sanji’s fault for making it so obvious that he can’t stand food being wasted, but as a result he would allow himself a full stomach more often. It also didn’t escape his notice that Zoro only pulled such a stunt whenever their rations grew low, and Sanji had shrunk his own portion sizes to keep his family well-fed.

And _damn_ was it frustrating. Sometimes, when they’re silent and drowsy like this, he’ll think about it, along with all the other feelings that Zoro’s presence causes him to process.

Loving Zoro is something that Sanji never expected from his voyage with the Strawhats. They had started off their relationship, unsurprisingly, with conflicts. At first, it was the way that Sanji over-treated women and how Zoro thought it more honorable to ignore them. Sanji learned later of Kuina, and Zoro later learned later of Zeff. They never argued on it since. 

The next conflict became a petty dispute over Zoro’s place on the ship, quickly resolved by a simple ( _Isn’t it enough to be family?_ ) from Luffy. Then it was over Zoro’s tendency to drink their alcohol supplies dry within a week. Then it was over the stench of smoke that smeared every corner of their shared men’s quarters. Then the quality of the food (which was just fine, thank you very much), then the weight of the dumbbells throwing off the ship’s balance (which apparently wasn’t actually a problem? Sanji still doesn’t know how though).

The truth of the matter was that they just couldn’t get along for the longest time.

It wasn’t until Alabasta that Zoro had recognized Sanji to be more than just a cook and a flirt, and it wasn’t until Thriller Bark that Sanji had realized just how deep Zoro’s devotion and loyalty was. 

Maybe it started then, the attraction. 

Their fights were less aggressive, now more for testing new moves or for pushing each other in terms of raw power. They didn’t dispute anymore, not really. Some things still irked the other, but it was balanced out by the underlying trust and reliance on each other’s strength. 

And later still — maybe during the two years apart, maybe after they met up again, or maybe it was a seed long-planted into their hearts that only made itself known once the flower was too all-consuming to be ignored — that feeling beyond attraction begun to bloom. 

If anyone asked (Usopp looks like he’s still working up the courage to), Sanji wouldn’t be able to give them a good answer as to why he loves Zoro.

Drinking should be a refined event, something to pair with a lovely meal or an even lovelier lady. It shouldn’t be whatever crude _thing_ that Zoro has reduced it to. Sanji knows that he isn’t in any place to talk with his own habit, but the smell of booze on their blankets used to annoy the hell out of him. Sure, it doesn’t do so as much anymore, but maybe that’s just because Sanji just got accustomed to it, or maybe because he lost some of his precious scent receptors over the past few months.

Not to mention the numerous _other_ habits that Zoro has. He rarely bathes, which, gross, especially since Sanji is working with food literally every day. He doesn’t remove his earrings when he sleeps, and Sanji has woken up with three bar-shaped imprints more times than he’d care to admit. Sometimes his grip would get too tight and Sanji, while he is one of the strongest people on the crew, is still human (mostly) and can’t really handle a vice grip from arms that benches tonnes for a warm-up.

And sure, Zoro was objectively attractive, but not only is Sanji mostly Not Really Into Guys, but Zoro’s shape and attitude had been the opposite of everything Sanji imagined for himself the past twenty years. 

Being the weakest of his birth family, he always imagined his lifelong partner would be someone who saw him as a strong prince charming of sorts that could handle anything life threw at him. Zoro, along with the other Strawhats, have seen him at his worst, over and over and over again. He was physically stronger than Sanji, which, while it doesn't mean he can beat him in a fight, also doesn’t bode well for Sanji’s mental image of him being the stronger one in the pair. This became especially annoying when strangers would ask them who’s “the man” in the relationship, as if they aren't _both_ men regardless of whom they choose to date.

So his attraction to Zoro had been a bit of a mystery.

But as he stares at the sleeping person next to him, he finds that he doesn’t mind it at all. Their experiences had created a type of trust that just can’t be replicated any other way. 

Sure, Zoro has seen Sanji at his lowest, but the same applies the other way around. At the end of the day, neither one would doubt their faith in the other’s strength. 

They might only have a single ounce of intelligence between the two of them, and even less in terms of self-care, but that’s what their relationship is for. Somewhere right between co-dependence — not unlike what creates the bounds within any found family — and self-reliance — a result of their respective histories.

They’ll still bicker on a weekly basis, usually childish arguments to convince one another to eat, or rest, or relax, or anything at all that involves their well-being. Their fights are just as vicious, though more to train than to wound. From a stranger’s view, maybe their relationships hasn’t changed much at all. But for them, the difference is as clear as night and day.

They sleep together in a hammock meant for one, elbows bumping and knees so tangled up they’d be long dead if anyone did end up successfully infiltrating their ship. They kiss even though one can’t stand the taste of nicotine and the other hates alcohol when it’s not paired with a suitable dish. Neither of them suit the other’s aesthetic tastes, at least not in theory, and certainly not until they found something to love in the imperfection that they have. 

Their relationship is all kinds of impractical, and they wouldn’t change it for the world.

**Author's Note:**

> idk how wano ends guys it's only 2020 I just wanted to include Jimbei in the background ok ok. Also i'm recovering from wisdom tooth surgery rn so I'm really glad I pre-wrote this hahah.
> 
> [Tumblr](https://voicelesswaves.tumblr.com/)


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